What Happens, Happens
by Kam97
Summary: Tara wakes up from her unconscious state to find Rosita at her bedside, and struggles to remember the events that had occurred leading up to this. After giving Tara the bad news about Noah, Rosita takes it into her own hands to keep Tara safe from all that comes next until she can recover. But conversations are struck, and unexpected things happen.
1. Chapter 1

"Hey, welcome back."

My hearing must have come back before my vision did since a woman's voice was clear as day but her image wasn't. I must have stared at her for over 10 seconds - blinking and trying to recognize her; but nothing came to mind. What had happened?

"Can you hear me, Tara?" She asked. And I nodded. Yes, I could hear her. And yes, that was my name. But as familiar as she looked, I couldn't remember her's. "Your vision might be weird from the anesthetic. Give it time. Are you in any pain?"

Pain? Anesthetic? It took me this long to realize that I wasn't at home in my bed - I was in the hospital. Or was I? Looking around - I found that where I was was really just a house, but with hospital entities; like the IV hooked up to my arm.

"N-no." I answered her question about pain. But I had to ask, "What the hell did I do? I can't remember your name at all, I-"

She put her hand down on my knees, "Hey, slow down. You injured your head pretty badly several days ago, and you've been out cold until now. Not being able to remember things is common considering what happened..."

Jesus.

"I know you, though. I just can't-"

"Rosita." She said.

And right at that moment, a lot of things pieced together. I remembered the walkers. I remembered Brian. I remembered the prison. I could feel my heart rate speed up when these things came to mind. And then when I remembered my family, things got worse.

"Right now, we're in the Alexandria Safe Zone. Is anything coming back to you?" Rosita continued

I nodded. "Yeah... We're part of... Um... M-mike's group?"

"Mike?" Rosita raised her eyebrows. Shit, I knew that wasn't right. "I think you mean Rick, Tara. We're in Rick's group."

Yeah, she was right. I don't know why I said Mike. It could be because of whatever crude pain meds I was on; I felt numb in the brain. "Oops." Was all I said.

And she just laughed, very very softly. As if she was trying to hide something. With that, she brought my attention to her expression, and which was painted with worry. Something clearly wasn't right; with either me, or something else that happened.

"How'd I hurt my head, anyway?" I asked.

"Well, uh, you were on a run with Eugene, Glenn and some of the other guys here..." The her voice got really shaky, "like Aiden... And Noah."

I remembered them. And the techno van. But her face looked so pained.

"Wait, why are you-"

Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

"Something went wrong on the run... didn't it?"


	2. Chapter 2

"Something went wrong on the run, didn't it?"

Rosita nodded her head, biting her lip. God dammit...

"So, is that how...?" I touched the bandage on my temple, and Rosita nodded again. "We lost Aiden, and Noah..." She finally said, "Supposedly a grenade went off by accident, and, well, we almost lost you too... You'll have to ask Glenn for the whole story... If you want to know..."

We both looked down, her at her feet and me at my stomach. Noah? Damn... I just watched as my chest rose up and down under my blanket as fury grew inside. Yes, I was growing furious because of what happened, and what I missed. And I was more enraged than sad that it was Noah who had to go. I felt like his time with us deserved to be longer. My last memory that I could retrieve was of us hanging out in that van talking about video games. We were so similar, and so we were pretty tight. I mean, we weren't quite up to brother status, but we were friends. But more often than not, this world forces us to lose anyone we start to care for. And that was what frustrated me most about all this.

"What are you thinking?" Rosita asked, thankfully putting a short stop to my rage and anxiety before it could come out.

"I'm just... Upset, I guess." I said.

"We all were, and sort of still are." Rosita sighed, "Glenn and Eugene were here about an hour ago, but there's a meeting going on at the square. About Rick. They'll come talk to you later for sure..."

"Wait, Rick? Did something happen with him?" I asked. Last time I saw him, he'd been promoted to constable.

"He hasn't been in the best mental state these days. He's paranoid." She replied. "I really don't blame him."

But with that, Rosita changed the subject. "Hey well I think it's safe to let you have something to drink. Your doctor is seems to be M.I.A but that's been the situation lately. He did your surgery, and left us to keep an eye on you." She explained, getting up and going over to the refrigerator.

"It's a miracle this place provides electricity with those huge solar panels. Eugene's the one who got them going full power the other night. But that's just about the only helpful thing he's done with us... Other than getting you out of that death trap warehouse. Glenn said you were the guy's top priority... Abe apologized to him this morning for the fiasco by the firetruck, and he picked you those-" Rosita pointed to the night stand on my right, which I hadn't even looked at yet. There was indeed a vase of flowers. "In only a few days I've seen the big man be a softy, and the nerd be a hero. But regardless, I've begun to see you all as family." She said, and soon after, she returned to my beside with a glass of water; a straw sticking out of the top.

"When I saw drink it slow, I mean drink it slow." She ordered - like a mother to a child. And if it couldn't get any more like that, I found myself struggling to hold the glass - my whole body was sore and stiff. So she ended up holding it for me. I couldn't look her in the eyes. She always had me blushing in one way or another; but this was the awkward way.

I hated feeling weak and useless. Especially in a world like this. But damn, I really liked the cold drink. My throat was dry and scratched up; I wouldn't be surprised if they'd put a tube down my throat while I was in surgery. I've had operations in the past, but this one must have been pretty crude looking at the circumstances. It's a wonder how they even had the supplies to hook me up to this IV. It's been years since the world went to shit - you'd think the important medical stuff would have all been taken in the first week.

And as if Rosita could literally read my mind, she spent spoke up. "Pete, your doctor, was actually a doctor before all this. Surprise surprise. He's the biggest douche I've ever met, but no one could have revived you like he did. I mean, I've just been playing nurse and doing what I know how to do."

"Yeah?" Oh great, here comes the blush again.

"Mmhmm." She nodded, but the her eyes got wide. "Hey, you're turning a little red. You okay?"

"Y-yeah. I'm fine." I wished I could just go back to sleep.

"Actually, the blankets might be too much now... Here." She leaned right over me and pulled one of the three blankets off halfway.

But as she did that, I suddenly imagined her on top of me - and I nearly slapped myself in the face I was so internally embarrassed. This had only happened once, and it was a while ago when we had first met. I was sort of okay with the idea then, but now, after watching her and Abraham climb all over each other, I didn't want to get my hopes up what so ever. Also, I'd just gotten news that I'd lost yet another friend, so this really was not the time to long for a piece of tail. Hell no

"How long until I can get up and move around?" I asked her. A long walk would do me good right now.

"Well, that really depends on your strength, see, I was planning on letting you eat someth-"

"Oh, I'm fine! I'm ready to go right now!" I piped up.

I was not going to eat. She would probably have to hand feed me or something. No way. "Tara, you'd pass out. You seriously haven't eaten in 3 days, and you're on pain meds."

"Can I at least sit up? I asked. I could see reluctance in her eyes, but she nodded anyway. "Slowly, I'm serious."

"I can see that."

"Hey, if you start dry heaving and faint, that's my fault for not slowing you down."

I ignored that, and then made a cautious attempt to push myself back against the pillow with my arms. They immediately trembled and everything inside me screamed at me to stop. But in a world full of walkers and dangerous people, it was not my duty to be bed ridden for another day.

"Hang on. I'll help you out." Rosita said.

Great.

She stood up again and reached behind me this time, propping the pillow up at a better angle. I tried pushing myself up again and was more successful. Once I was up, the things around me were more clear. This was definitely the living room of a house - I could see the TV set, and a love seat pushed up against the wall.

"Too bad solar panels can't get the cable back." I muttered, striking up a new conversation i didn't mind having.

Sitting up, and able to drink my own water, we talked briefly about the last movie we saw, and the last celebrity scandal we heard of before every station on TV was either spewing news about the outbreak of totally off the air. We each had different output, because Rosita is actually from Texas, and I'm from Atlanta. Suddenly, I wondered how many of these big stars were still alive. I didn't necessarily care, but the thought of my favorite actors and actresses slaying walkers was an interested my one. Hell, I'd watch that show... if it was staged.

"How are you doing now? Wanna eat?" She then asked.

"Yeah, I'll have a steak. Medium rare." I joked, and this made her smile a little. "We'll start with noodles or something. Then we'll find you a live cow." She replied.

But suddenly, I remembered the smell of the overrun ranch we came across on the way to D.C.. I lost my appetite for steak.

"Alright." I nodded, and she returned to the kitchen. It was unreal how nice these houses were after nearly 3 years of death and destruction . This place must have been a safe haven from the very start.

But of course, as if my thoughts were read again, the two of us heard gasping and screaming coming from outside.

"Oh shit!" Rosita shut the cabinet she was rummaging through and dashed to the window. And I just sat there straining to see outside as well, with every desire in me being to know what was going down out there.

"Damn it, I can't tell from here." Rosita muttered, "Stay there. Stay right there!" She snapped at me before running outside with her knife drawn.

Was it walkers? A fire? A raid?

I was just about to swing my legs over the side of the bed when I heard a loud, crackling gunshot. Major panic then set in and I completely skipped baby steps. I instinctively launched myself out of that bed and I immediately felt the IV needle harshly rip out of my arm as I stumbled - catching myself on a chair.

Rosita then ran back in and blurted out, "oh my god, I think Rick killed Pete. There's two dead bodies out there and- Tara!"

With blood trickling down my arm, my stomach doing backflips, and my legs shaking like the noodles I never ate - the last thing I saw was her running to catch me as I collapsed.


	3. Chapter 3

((Author's Note: Thanks to whoever's made it to this point; this is my first TWD fic pretty much so I'm new to writing these characters. Just a quick trigger warning here: this next chapter has mentions of suicide towards the end. Proceed at your own will.))

"Don't give me that look, I'm not her doctor!"

I felt my fingers when I heard her voice.

"You were in charge of keeping her still!"

I felt my toes when I heard his voice.

"I did all I could Abraham! Shit was going down! I had to make sure walkers weren't gnawing on our people!"

I opened my eyes when I heard him sigh. And I noticed I was back in the bed again when he slammed the door behind him.

Then I just watched as Rosita leaned over the counter and put her face in her hands. She was upset again, definitely. And as I squirmed a bit in the bed, I noticed a bandage was on my arm and I was wearing a different top. The IV was gone. And there was a small bloodstain over on the carpet.

"Sorry..." I spoke up.

She lifted her face out of her hands and looked at me, "No, it's okay. You just panicked, I know." Her tone wasn't convincing.

"Why is Abe so pissed? I thought he could care less about me." I had to ask.

"He wasn't so much concerned that you collapsed rather than I made an apparent mistake." She explained.

"Is that all there is to it?"

"Probably not. Things got intense out there; turns out that Pete killed Reg, Deanna let Rick shoot Pete, and then some new guy came strolling in with Aaron. Abe's all wacked out now like he was at the firetruck; scared I guess. It could have been worse." Her tone read that she didn't want to talk much about it. Neither did I.

"Anyway, are you ready to eat something now?" She asked. I mean, I wasn't hungry anymore, but I nodded anyway simply to make things easy. She walked back to the cabinet she was digging through before we heard the gunshot earlier.

That left me trying to fathom why Pete would kill Reg, and why Rick would so readily shoot Pete. There must have been some serious tension that I didn't know about. I know there was a small fight outside the gates but that was all Aiden; you know, for almost getting me bit. I have every right to believe that his stupidity put me in this bed, and put Noah in the ground.

No "accidents" happen with anyone in our group. We've been out there for so long while the people in Alexandria are basically virgins to this world. I bet they've never eaten a dog. Or torched a pile of dead bodies. Or seen a tank blow a hole in someone's home.

In my interview with Deanna, I told her about Brian; and about the good group of people I was with before he manipulated them with his bullshit. And how each and every one of them were slaughtered, except for me. I stepped up first, sure. But when we got out there and I saw Brian's true intentions? I wanted to scream. I dropped my gun. I refused. And then I hid.

The price I payed for that was watching all those good people die. Like my sister; my niece and my girlfriend. Two of the three weren't even supposed to be there. I told Deanna that after it was all over, and I thought there was no one left, I locked myself away with a fully loaded pistol. Waiting. And waiting. I wasn't sure what exactly I was waiting for; but it was either the strength to get up and fight my way out of that prison, or the weakness to put one of the those bullets through my brain so I could be with the dozens of other people who died that day. But Glenn found me before I could press that trigger for any reason; and he recruited me to help him find his wife, Maggie. And on the way, we met Abe, Rosita and Eugene. And then Maggie. And then Rick and everyone else that I call family now.

These people, I told Deanna, were the ones. Rick was a leader. Not Brian. Brian was a madman and I knew it when he ended Hershel's life. But Rick? Rick was strong. Rick was smart. And even before I truly met him, I was loyal to him. That is a big deal because I didn't think I could ever be loyal to anyone else so soon after MY loyalty to Brian got my family killed.

But I guess I had nothing to lose when Glenn found me; I had no one left to protect. When Glenn mentioned finding Maggie, all I could think of was Alisha and how great it would have been if we both had made it out alive. But I guess her loyalties weren't set right, and she ultimately was the driving force of Brian's army. After all, she was a soldier before all this. And that was her mission. So my mission ultimately became to help Glenn find his girl, because me and mine got separated in more ways than one.

And you know, nothing satisfied me more that week than when he actually found her. If that hadn't happened, we never would have found the rest of Rick's group. And if we hadn't found Abe, Rosita and Eugene, we probably wouldn't have even survived long enough to find Maggie, especially with Glenn in the state he was in!

Deanna seemed satisfied with what I had to say. I didn't like talking about Brian, or my family, or the thoughts I had in the aftermath of the prison. But that was my story. And then getting to talking about Rick and the group sort of made me feel glad that I'd made the decisions I made and didn't let myself take a bullet for Brian in any way. I guess I had made the right moves, because they got me somewhere better. Somewhere where I found new family; like Rick, Glenn, Maggie, Rosita... Even Eugene a little bit(especially now that I know what he did to get me out of that warehouse.)

I've just come to accept that this is the way things are now.

And it's okay.


	4. Chapter 4

_((A.N.: Hello, me again. This chapter is most likely the last for this one, but stay tuned for more stories. Also, just gonna toss a quick trigger warning in again: this chapter has more detailed mentions of suicide; read at your own pace. But thanks for reading!))_

After pondering for a while in my own head, I was glad to see Rosita return to my beside with a bowl of hot noodles.

"You know, they pack the cabinets here with so much extra shit you can't eat just to make everyone feel like we're fully stocked." She laughed slightly, handing me the bowl. Her laugh was so cute.

"Like what?" I asked, taking the bowl.

"Bottles of sauce, weird spices, chocolate milk powder but no milk..."

"Hey, anything is better than eating someone's pet dog..." I muttered.

"Well, you're right on that one!"

"Thanks for this, though." I gestured at the meal.

"Hey, no problem, I miss doing normal stuff." She smiled. "Or at least the things I did before things went bad."

I began to eat, as we began to talk.

"You were in the army, right?" I asked.

She shrugged, "Part time. I always wanted to be a nurse out there..."

"My sister, Lily, was a nurse." I shared.

"Yeah? In the army?"

"No, not quite. She worked at a school. And then an E.R. in Atlanta. Man, she always had the craziest stories of what she had to do there. But none of it comes close to the stuff I've seen out here, which she didn't quite live to see, let's just say..."

"I'm sorry you lost her." Rosita said quietly.

"Some days I'm sorry too, some days I'm not. I often wonder if it was for the best. I know she'd be a wreck without my niece, who was bitten a little while before she was." I paused to take a deep breath, "And let's just say that if I didn't lose anyone that day, Glenn wouldn't have found me and I wouldn't have found you-"

I cut myself off; and there was a dead silence. She was just looking at me, slightly confused, and there was a lot of tension in the room.

"-you _guys_ " I nervously added, trying to recover. But suddenly, she smiled at me.

"I'm glad you found us...Me." She said, "And you're stronger than you think you are for making that decision to go with Glenn."

I said nothing, she didn't know anything about how I was feeling that day. She didn't know I was contemplating suicide.

"Most people would have opted out, but you chose not to."

Okay, maybe she _did_ know.

Rosita continued to talk, "Earlier on, a few of mine opted out. The 6th month of the outbreak was one of the darkest in the sense of people deciding to quit. Every morning there'd be new walkers feeding on the new bodies that hung from the trees. It was never something is considered, but it was hard to watch. It made me really scared to sleep at night because there was no telling who'd be gone the next morning." She took a long deep breath, and I saw her sink deeper into her chair.

"Man, that sounds terrible." I said, "See, my sister had us all rounded up and locked away in our apartment. We barely saw much, even though I knew what was happening. You're right, month six was a killer - I was going on runs simply to find things that would keep us from going crazy in that house; stupid things like games. And beer. But those things lost their touch soon enough; month nine was when we all sort of went numb for a long time. My niece stopped talking, my Dad's cancer was getting much worse; Lily and I fought everyday. But we hadn't yet lost anyone in that house, so we stayed. Afraid to leave."

"Wow..." Rosita sighed, "And the people I was with from the start were afraid to stop moving. For two and a half years, I never had a place to call home. No safe zones; just temporary camps.

"I still don't know which is better, to be honest." I said.

"But you know what? I like this place." Rosita continued, "Anywhere else and you wouldn't have made it through your surgery. Anywhere else and we wouldn't have real beds, hot showers, or extra food items in the cabinets; you know, the things that make us people again and not animals."

"You're absolutely right." I said, "But I can't help but worry that someday, outsiders are gonna want what we have but they're not gonna want to join us. That's what Brian... The Governor... was like, and that's why he attacked the prison."

"And you know, _you're_ absolutely right!" Rosita said, "But I know we're strong. We've got more numbers now. We have walls; not fences. I think we're ready for whatever hits us here."

I just smiled. Her voice was so calming, and I was so happy she was so into this, after being so focused on the D.C. mission. I hate to say it, but him revealing that he wasn't actually a scientist benefited the group, because now there was no conflict between Abe and Rick about whether we should go find the "cure". We all became united as a group after we left Grady.

I guess things just happened the way they happened. It trips me up to think that if one event in this journey had gone differently, the way things are now might not even be the same. "The butterfly effect", I think it's called; change one detail and everything that follows gets altered - for better, or for worse. But in movies and books, it's almost always for the worse. Probably to teach people that things happen for a reason, and dwelling on what you could have done in the past is a waste of time. I used to think that stuff was all bullshit, but after all the things that have happened in the last year, _I get it_.

So now, I figured, it's time to try something.

I set my bowl on the table beside me, and looked directly at Rosita.

"I know you're thinking again... what about?" She asked.

I paused a while, pondering how I was going to say this, then finally said, "You know... It's been a wild ride to get to this point... But... I'm really glad that I'm here-..."

I saw her smile.  
Here it goes.

"-with _you_..." I added, "And I mean that."

"Aw, Tara..." She said so softly, just as she took my hand in hers and squeezed. "You're really the sweetest I've ever met. And before you try to prove me wrong with stories of what you think you did back at the prison, let me say that the fact that you overcame that all that and are with us now is even better, okay?..."

I didn't say much to that, I just smiled and let myself enjoy the feeling of her fingers locked between mine. Despite everything, her hands were so soft. And when I felt like she was about to let go, I suddenly began to ask, "Can you-"

" _Ssssh_." She hushed, right before leaning forward and kissing me softly on the lips. And then she whispered.

"I get it too."


End file.
